Simple Potting Arrangement for the Front Porch

I’m not big into potted plants, but maybe I should be. There’s something satisfying about having a garden 100% complete and only having to maintain it with a little watering and a smattering of organic fertilizer. Essentially a potted arrangement is just a simple miniature garden complete within itself. Of course you can get as complicated as the size of your pot allows, you can include bonsai, groundcovers, and of course the potter’s adage “spillers, thrillers and chillers!” You can even include multiple pots together to make whole gardens of pots that blend with each other. Today I went simple and planted two identical pots with two contrasting colors: silver and burgundy.

For the burgundy I found two cordyline plants on the discount rack and paid a whopping $2 for both of them. For the silver I picked the old standard annual plant Dusty Miller. Old Dusty sometimes makes it through our winters. I even had one plant that survived two winters before finally succumbing to the winter cold. Together the silver and burgundy colors should make for an attractive entrance to our front porch once they fill out. the cordyline isn’t hardy here (it likes zones 9-10) but should make a nice indoor plant if I can remember to bring it indoors when the weather changes. And to make my simple pot garden even cooler, I spent a grand total of $5.75 for 9 Dusty Miller plants and the two cordyline. It’s hard to beat that!

7 thoughts on “Simple Potting Arrangement for the Front Porch”

  1. I have this exact combination Dave. Have had to trim Dusty back a couple of times already. I've been thinking of you and your family and hope you are continuing to heal.

  2. It looks great 🙂 All I have this year is a 4'x6' patio, so all of my gardening is in pots. You can do a lot with pots, but there is a LOT of extra watering time depending on the type of plants – my tomatoes and morning glories love to wilt and tell me how hot it got while I was at work. It's worth it though!

    Happy Gardening!

  3. I love the contrast between the burgundy and silver!

    Strangely, I have had Cordyline survive two winters here in Northern Virginia (what is supposedly 7a/6b), in the ground. They've outlived their original purpose and have been overtaken by the natives, but maybe I should put them in pots for some fall color? Hmmmm…

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